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The Sadies


A Conversation with Travis Good (continued)

PM: So as a Nashville writer, I find it interesting that you guys do all your songwriting credits and your publishing as a band.

TG: Yeah.

PM: And that's just the way it's always been, huh?

TG: Yeah.

PM: Even when somebody like your friend Rick White is involved, it's still Rick White and the Sadies.

TG: Yeah. I mean, because we all write songs, and we all have input to various degrees into other people's songs. Like sometimes I'll have a song and someone will put a lot into it. Or other people will say, "Oh, that sounds really good just the way it is." And so rather than like--it would be really difficult with all those songs to sit down and try to figure out what everybody's input was.

PM: Right.

TG: And probably a recipe for disaster. And also, like a friend of ours in a band--you know that band Sloan from Canada?

PM: Uh-huh.

TG: They do it as well, and they kind of recommended it to us the very first year we started. They said, "It's kind of important with you guys that you keep to the core members of your band. You really are a band, as we are. And the healthiest atmosphere for that band to be in is to be pretty much communal."

PM: Right.

TG: And otherwise, we get a lot of movies that will be asking for songs for a soundtrack and stuff. And I can't imagine if they were each individually credited--and they usually aren't anyways--but you'd start fighting over who did the song and stuff. And you'd also resent the guy who is making more money for doing the same amount of work.

PM: Exactly. And when does a song stop getting written?

TG: Right. That's a good point.

PM: When you bring it to the table, or when it's on the record? I mean, by the time it gets to the record, it's a whole different song than when you brought it to the table.

TG: And then even when you play it live, after you've recorded it, then you just continue to reinvent it. Six months after touring, the song might be very different than it was when you put it down on tape.

PM: Yeah. When you're at home or on the road, are you sometimes listening to music quite different than the music you play?

TG: Yeah. Yeah, I think we all listen to a lot of different stuff. And there is no real rhyme or reason. We listen to country, we listen to old '60s rock. The only thing that I would say is consistent about it is there's not a whole lot of new music in what we listen to. It's usually pre-1980s.

PM: Right.

[laughter]

TG: But other than that there's country, folk, bluegrass, rock, punk rock.

PM: Right, roots music.

TG: If you would call pre-1980s "roots," yeah.

[laughter]

PM: Well, it's all relative; but yeah, it's getting to be that way.

It's really good to talk to you, Travis. And I want to see you when you come to town.

TG: I'll definitely let you know if we're going to be in early and if we can swing that video interview, that'd be great.

PM: Okay. I'll talk to Jude and Angie and see if it's possible to swing a video interview. That would be a nice opportunity for everybody, and to talk to the brothers that way would be fun.

TG: Yeah, that would be cool.

PM: Well, thanks, man, for your time. It's always a gas, Travis.

TG: Thank you, Frank, always a pleasure.

continue to the interview with Dallas

Dallas Good of The Sadies

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